I really hate to state the obvious........but in TAR 15......when the teams found the right license plate, they took it to Phil, who was standing on the mat. So there must be a mat out at the windmills, where teams take the correct paper airplane. The last team to find the correct paper airplane and go see Phil on the mat will get the Automatic U Turn.

I really hate to state the obvious........but in TAR 15......when the teams found the right license plate, they took it to Phil, who was standing on the mat. So there must be a mat out at the windmills, where teams take the correct paper airplane. The last team to find the correct paper airplane and go see Phil on the mat will get the Automatic U Turn.

Then head to LAX to fly to Sydney.

Thank you Doc! I think you just solved the problem!Only...the Express Pass will most likely not be given out there as well, so...

I really hate to state the obvious........but in TAR 15......when the teams found the right license plate, they took it to Phil, who was standing on the mat. So there must be a mat out at the windmills, where teams take the correct paper airplane. The last team to find the correct paper airplane and go see Phil on the mat will get the Automatic U Turn.

Then head to LAX to fly to Sydney.

Thank you Doc! I think you just solved the problem!Only...the Express Pass will most likely not be given out there as well, so...

As Peach has said several times, the winner of the FIRST LEG will get the Express Pass.......just like in TAR17. It really isnt that confusing. All we have to go on is that TPTB use the same rules as in TAR17.

I really hate to state the obvious........but in TAR 15......when the teams found the right license plate, they took it to Phil, who was standing on the mat. So there must be a mat out at the windmills, where teams take the correct paper airplane. The last team to find the correct paper airplane and go see Phil on the mat will get the Automatic U Turn.

Then head to LAX to fly to Sydney.

Thank you Doc! I think you just solved the problem!Only...the Express Pass will most likely not be given out there as well, so...

As Peach has said several times, the winner of the FIRST LEG will get the Express Pass.......just like in TAR17. It really isnt that confusing. All we have to go on is that TPTB use the same rules as in TAR17.

Define the end of the first leg...the TBC point or the Broken Hill mat.

Okay...guess we'll have to see? I was under the impression it was the start line task that was the determining factor...but perhaps that is only for the flights?

But I still think it was find the airplane.... and DrRox's Mat idea would allow both ABC and me to be right!

And first leg is the first leg, which ends in Manly. As I posted back in December

So if the first leg ends in Manly, that means Gallory for the Express Pass, and the Automatic U-Turn is given at the paper aeroplanes, so we assume Amanda & Kris.

Hope that sums it up, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Logged

1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

The Express Pass, introduced in the previous series, will return, allowing the team that places first in the first leg to skip any later task in the race. Additionally, the last team to arrive on the non-elimination first leg will be forced to complete a U-Turn in the next leg, performing both tasks of the leg's Detour.[8]

Define the end of the first leg...the TBC point or the Broken Hill mat.

Actually, however I define the end of a leg is irrelevant. What is revelant is just how World Race Productions defines a leg. Absent any written rule/definition from the TAR Big Book of Rules that teams receive, all we can do is look at what Phil has said and 17 seasons of empirical data.

You will really have to come up with your own definiton of a leg after looking at that data. You can write down the factors that "always" happen at the end of a leg and the factors that "always" happen at the start of a leg. Obviously, the start of leg 1 of a season and the finish line of a season are exceptions. But those two exceptions do not affect our analysis.

In Season 1 in Central Park, Phil really did explain it pretty well. He did not come right out and say, but he talked about elmination points and the money they are given and "when" they would get more money. Personally, I am a follower of the_schnauzers and his concept of the "Uberleg" when there is a TBC invovled.

The start of TAR18 is obviously complicated. I personally think the teams will hit the mat 3 times before the (Uber)Leg 1 is over. Once at the windmills to pass out the Automatic U Turn, once in Manley and end of leg mat and elmination at Broken Hill. Again, that is just my speculation. If WRP doesn't change from what they said at the start of TAR 17, then the team that arrives 1st in Broken Hill will receive the Express Pass, by my analysis. Now it is just time to sit back and see just what happens and enjoy the start.

We will have to see what Phil says tonight about when the team with the Automatic U Turn will have to use it.

[...]In the premiere, Keoghan informs the players that the last team to arrive on the mat will automatically face a U-turn, forcing the duo to perform both Detour challenges, while first-place finishers will receive the Express Pass, allowing a team to skip one task during the race.[...]

The article mentions the auto U-Turn and the Express Pass together, which seems to hint that they were given out at the same point? From that I would infer that the first person at the Manly mat received the Express Pass and the last person was hit with the Automatic U-Turn.

Of course, based on what we know about Amanda & Kris's elimination, it's more likely that the auto U-Turn happened after the paper airplanes task.

But Jet & Cord ARE very good at playing catch-up (going from last place to first place despite a Speed Bump in S16) so if I had to guess which team survived a U-Turn and came in 3rd, I would place my bet on them. Still that's probably wishful thinking since I'd hate to see Amanda & Kris go out because of a U-Turn again.

If there is a mat at the windmills, then both the Express Pass and Automatic U Turn could be passed out. If that happens, then WRP changed the way the Express Pass was won for TAR18 than it was won in TAR17.......no problem with that either.....but till it happens we just dont know.....but it does make prefect sense. It should really movtivate teams to look for that clue.

The presence or absence pf a mid=po=int mat is not determinative of the presence of an uber-leg. TAR 6 didn't have one, TAR 9 didn't have one, TAR 10 had a mid-point mat that wasn't an uber-leg. So that factor, and Phil's presence, isn't determinative.

Until recent seasons, it was possible to use the cash distribution point at the beginning of a leg to help identify uber-legs. However, IIRC, there have been a couple of instances where teams did receive additional money at those mid-points.

The more determinative factor seems to be the presence of multiple detours and roadblocks. Yes, we had the one leg with two roadblocks and no detours in Beijing, but if we focus on the total number of such tasks, then it becomes less of a hiccup. But then, we've had both roadblocks and detours edited in such a way that they were presented on-air as if they were general "active" route marker tasks, so we can't always count on those.

But in general, the uber-leg has usually involved two detours and two roadblocks, with a midpoint where either Phil or the clue, without Phil being present, instructs the teams to continue racing. Whether the Manly midpoint introduces something different we'll have to see tonight. Also, if Phil uses "the mat" and not "pit stop" that may be a clue that the uber-leg mid-point is being used to determine who gets the Express Pass and the automatic U-Turn. We do have to stop thinking in terms of "the mat" meaning "arriving at the Pit Stop." We've known since TAR 7 that the two no longer always mean the same thing,

As I mentioned in the episode thread, there is no uberleg. What we have is two legs with no rest period between them; a development that's been coming for a while with the elimination of mentioning the standard 12-hour rest periods at pit stops.

So Phil isn't misleading anyone when he said "pit stop," and he did say this Race has 12 legs. The TBC card at the end is a little misleading, but that is being used only because of putting the Cowboys arrival at the mat for the first pit stop into next week's episode.

So, if this is not an überleg, that means that Jet & Cord will incur a Speed Bump if they're not eliminated, right?

Logged

The story so far:In the beginning the Universe was created.This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move